Slot machines have been a form of entertainment for many decades. They began as strictly mechanical machines but later developed into electro-mechanical and electronic gaming devices that displayed the slot machine game as graphic and video images on a computer screen. With the advent of electronic gaming machines, the game designer was no longer restricted to the limitations imposed by mechanical devices but could now develop many new and exciting features, limited only by the processing power and memory of the electronic machine, and the designer's creativity.
It has always been a goal of the game designer to develop games of ever-increasing entertainment value. The greater the entertainment value the greater the machine's use and, generally, the greater revenue received by the slot machine provider. Therefore, the power of the electronic gaming machine was tapped to create not only games with colorful graphic displays and animations, but also to add bonus games and other features. These bonuses and features not only further increased the level of entertainment but also provided a perceived benefit to the player—a chance to win more.
Thus, numerous bonus games and other game features have been developed over the years to enhance overall play of the games. There is a continual effort to create newer and better bonuses and features to attract players to those games that possess such and to cause the player to want to continue playing the game for extended periods of time.
One example of a common bonus game that has been developed is the “pick 'em” game. In that bonus game, the player generally selects icons with various hidden awards that are revealed once selected. Typically, one or more icons will reveal a termination symbol that ends the bonus. The player collects the awards won until such time as the bonus game is terminated. Many variations on this basic bonus game have been developed, but need not be described here. Another common bonus game is a “free spin bonus”. As the name suggests, upon entering the bonus, the player is awarded a certain number of free spins. The symbol sets and award outcomes used in the free spin game may be the same or different from those used in the base game that triggered the free spin bonus. Some outcomes may add to or decrease the number of free spins awarded. Again, this is a description of a basic free spin bonus game. Many variations on this type of bonus have been developed, but need not be described here. The basic “pick 'em” and “free spin bonus” are just two examples of a myriad of bonus games developed by game designers and developers. Bonus games can be triggered as a result of the outcome of the base game, randomly, or based on some other criteria unrelated to the play of the game, such as amount of time spent playing at that casino or at that particular slot machine.
In addition to bonus games, various features have been developed to enhance the play of the base game. One of the first such features was in regards to paylines. Initially, games had only one line on which a player could bet. Therefore, outcomes were based on symbol combinations along that line. The line usually was made up by envisioning an imaginary line across the center row of symbols. Gradually more paylines became popular, starting with three paylines, then five paylines and now more than 100 paylines, any of which can be played during a given play of the game.
As a more modern example, a feature know as Split Symbols® by game developer and manufacturer IGT has been used to put multiple symbols in one position of the symbol matrix thus establishing multiples of the same symbols along the payline from the one position as opposed to just one symbol. These Split Symbol games can therefore result in greater wins since more symbols can thus lie along the payline to potentially create greater awards and a higher award frequency. Another example is symbol stacking. In such games, sections of virtual reels may be randomly replaced or replaced based on a given outcome with symbols of a kind thus creating a display of like symbols throughout the symbol matrix. This creates a real or perceived likelihood of greater winning outcomes.
Features associated with adding additional reels or unique reels to games have also been designed and developed. A system known as Reel Power® allows for a single line game to be played with only the center row being displayed in the window. The other positions on the window are partially covered so that the player can see that a prize is not included in that part of the window. When only one line is being played, a prize award is not included in the win if it did not appear on the displayed line, as the window was not open to include other positions in the win. A gaming machine using Reel Power® is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,093,102.
With Reel Power® the player can elect to pay extra to include all positions on the reel to determine the win. However, by including the extra positions on the reel for use in determining a win, the player in fact only pays for what is otherwise a scatter win in a scatter game—a symbol that has potential award value without residing along a payline—but with all symbols being scatter symbols. This provides added possibilities for wins, but in a limited manner.
Money Burst® is another reel-based game feature developed by WMS and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,608,544. Money Burst uses a lesser number of positions in the initial reels causing all paylines to run through these positions resulting in higher volatility and player excitement. Thus, the symbol matrix is modified from the standard 3×3, 3×5, 4×5, or the like, to, for example, a 2×2 alongside a 3×4 matrix.
A feature known as “replacement reels” were disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,529,333 to King Show Games. That patent appears to discuss replacement upon a triggering occurrence of one symbol of the standard matrix with a replacement reel that is independent from the primary reel associated with the given column of the symbol matrix. The replacement reel is “spun” to provide a new randomly selected symbol at the given position.
The present invention improves on the slot machine gaming experience by adding yet another additional feature based on extra mini-reels that may be included in calculating awards without merely adding additional positions. In previous games where an extra reel was added, the award was increased due to the difficulty of getting more symbols to match up. For instance, some games added a 6th reel, which meant the player could then be awarded a six-of-a-kind prize for matching symbols on all six reels. The extra mini-reels in the present invention go beyond that to include multiple reels within a reel, without merely replacing the symbol positions of the reel with a mini-reel, and thus provides a multitude of different possibilities for a win.